Lectionary Ruminations for Sunday, July 29, 2012, the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

Posted each Thursday, Lectionary Ruminations focuses on the Scripture Readings, taken from the New Revised Standard Version, for the following Sunday per the Revised Common Lectionary. Comments and questions are intended to encourage reflection for readers preparing to teach, preach, or hear the Word. Reader comments are invited and encouraged. All lectionary links are to the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible via the PC(USA) Devotions and Readings website, but if you prefer another translation, feel free to use that instead. (Other references may be linked to the NRSV via the oremus Bible Browser.)  Lectionary Ruminations is also cross-posted on my personal blog, Summit to Shore. 

First Reading - 2Samuel 11:1-15

v. 1 Why was the spring the time when kings went out to battle?  David had been a great military leader.  Why does he now stay behind?

v. 2 Was David a Voyeur? Was he looking for a beautiful woman?

v. 3 Does it make any difference that this was the daughter of Eliam, or that her husband was a Hittite?

v. 4 Don’t  you love biblical euphemisms?  What was the sine here, David and Bathsheba committing adultery, or the two of them having sex when she was not yet ritually pure?

v. 5 This was before the advent of home pregnancy tests!

v. 6 Why did David send for Uriah?

v. 8 Yep, another biblical euphemism!  I wonder about the nature of the present?

v. 9 Why did Uriah not go sleep in his home?

v. 11 There is your answer to the question I asked related to verse 9. 

v. 13 Why did David get Uriah drunk?

v. 14 Why did David want Uriah to die?

v. 14.5 David stands out on the royal balcony and proclaims to the crowd “I am not a crook!”  Can you spell “c-o-v-e-r-u-p”?

Psalm - Psalm 14

v. 1 So atheists but not agnostics are, according to the psalmist, fools?  I can agree with the first  line, but not the second and third.

v. 2 OK, I know, its trite, but I am reminded of the Advent/Christmas saying “The Wise (Magi) sill seek him.”

v. 3 Who have all gone astray?

v. 4 How does one eat people like bread.  Who is “they”?

v. 5 Where is “there”?

v. 6 This sounds like another Scripture passage for the 99%.

v. 7 And when will that deliverance and restoration come?

Second Reading - Ephesians 3:14-21

v. 14 What reason?

v. 15 What does this mean?

vs. 16-17 This sounds like a pithy platitude.

v. 18 Four dimensions!  I regularly pray that my GED students as well as those who worship where I preach and lead worship will have the power to comprehend.  Is lack of comprehension the only problem preachers and teachers face?

v. 19 What does it mean for something to surpass knowledge.  What do we call such a thing, transknosis?

v. 20 What power is at work in us?

Gospel - John 6:1-21

v. 1 After what? Why did this sea have at least two names? 

v. 2 What is a “large” crowd? In the context of this gospel, what are “signs”?

v. 3 What mountain?

v. 4 How near?  So what?

v. 5 If Jesus was on a mountain, why did he look up to see people coming toward him?  It seems like he should look down.  Why ask Philip and not another one of the disciples?

v. 6 How does Jesus test us?

v. 7 By today’s standards, six month’s wages would be at least $7,250.  How much bread could y-u buy with that and how many people could you feed?

v. 8 Why Andrew?  I wonder if Andrew ever grew tired of being identified as Simon Peter’s 

 brother?

v. 9 Jesus asked about bread, not fish and bread. Is there anything significant about five loaves and two fish?  Is there any significance to the bread being barely loaves? 

v. 10 $7,250/5000 = $ 1.45 / person.\

v. 11 What about people who might be standing?  Is this why we generally sit in the pews (not grass) to receive the eucharist?

v. 13 Is there any significance to there being twelve baskets?

v. 14 Do all “signs” lead to this public pronouncement of faith?

v. 15 When did Jesus withdraw from the mountain?  The people wanted to make Jesus King and he had not yet even given them a circus.

v. 17 Is there a subtext to the phrase “It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them”?  Why have I not noticed this verse before?

v. 18 Is the “strong wind” a metaphor for the Holy Spirit?

v. 19 Why were they terrified?

v. 2o What might “It is I” allude to?

v. 21 Did they take Jesus into the boat or not?

ADDENDUM

In addition to serving as the half time Pastor of North Church Queens and writing Lectionary Ruminations, I also tutor part time.  If you or someone you know needs a tutor, or if you would like to be a tutor, check out my WyzAnt page and follow the appropriate links.